Running Home - Ray's Secret Problem
by TitaniaSarys
Summary: Ray got beat up at school and Sara investigates.


It was a rather calm day in the Lance-Sharpe household. All the teens were about to come back from school and for once, both Sara and Ava were home. It was rare that Ava would be home before anyone else since she had a standard schedule: she generally left the house at seven in the morning and came home shortly after six. Being the Director of a company called Time (and then having Sara refer to her as the Time Director), Ava's job mostly consisted of managing some aspects of the company, holding regular meetings, discussing marketing strategies and stuff.

Ava didn't mind the boring tasks her job required her to do because the kind of services Time offered were never boring: they organized events, both private and public, involving high quality entertainment related to one historical period or another. Basically, they could throw all kinds of events with dozens of authentical costumes, accessories and even foods. These events ranged from the classic pirate-themed birthday party to a huge scale pride parade on the theme of the sexual revolution, without forgetting prom dances, plays, sometimes film shootings and even New Year's business parties for international companies. Anything related to time periods and entertainment, Time could do it.

As the Director, Ava spent most her days either at the Time Bureau (which was a glorified way of calling their main office building) or on site, checking details for some big events that required her supervision. She was never in charge of the smaller events such as birthday parties, unless it was for one of her own children and they sure knew how to party.

One of Time's policies was that children of their employees could get a free birthday event of their choosing –in the limits of a certain price range, some costumes being more expensive than others- every few years. But since Ava was the Director and had been working for Time for more than ten years, every one of her children got a free birthday event each year if they wanted to.

But not all children wanted these events. Mick never used his opportunity, John only tried twice, but Charlie, Ray and Mona used it every single year and now Zari could benefit from it too.

But that day, Ava was home three hours earlier than usual because Christmas was coming and things were slow at the Time Bureau. Sara was also home because she didn't have anyone's ass to protect that day, having gone out of her way to help Oliver out at the beginning of the week, working twice as much in a shorter time than she had the previous week. And she received a concussion after it all, so Ava was adamant about her wife staying home.

Because it was a Thursday evening and the kids had their term exams in the upcoming week, both women decided to throw a nice dinner, cooking them something special to lift their spirits. They had seen how stressed out the munchkins were: Mick didn't show it, but his grunts were shorter and somewhat strangled, John was keeping to himself way more than usual and hadn't drawn in over a week, Charlie's taste of music leaned more on the heavy metal than casual punk rock she usually listened to and she seemed to be trying really hard to piss her siblings off, Zari was awfully quiet and snapped a lot more than when she arrived, which was saying something, Ray kept having nervous tics and muttered to himself things that sounded like science formulas and Mona was so pale all the time Ava actually wondered if their youngest had caught something at school.

They were almost done with the chicken curry when the front door opened. Sara was in the process of setting up the table since her part –which had simply been to cut the vegetables- was over and Ava finished up the sauce, checking one more time that it was perfect. Sara actually laughed when she saw her wife taste the sauce for the up tenth time, lovingly calling her a perfectionist.

As Ava brought over their glasses of wine, she whispered in Sara's ear "But I'm your perfectionist."

Sara could only agree and kissed her wife while loud noises came from the entrance, teens shedding clothes and boots; most likely throwing snow and dirt everywhere to which Ava cringed internally and had to remind herself they were only children.

Charlie –as expected- was the first one to enter the dining room. "Holy balls! That smells divine!" she let out, dropping her bag next to the stairs.

"Language," Ava reminded her, which earned her a sheepish smile from Charlie and an even bigger one from Sara. "Don't encourage her!"

"I'm not!" Sara responded, lifting her hands in defense while still holding her glass, not spilling a single drop thanks to her ninja skills. "But I couldn't have said it better." She then gave Charlie their family dap and waited for everyone to pile into the dining room.

"Dinner's early, but we can take it easy today, the chicken still needs some time," Ava explained and Charlie went to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of juice. Sara suddenly frowned. She counted her children's heads and ended up with only five. Surprisingly, Ray was the one missing.

"Where's Ray?" She asked. Charlie simply shrugged before she slumped into one of the dining chairs, slightly messing up the plates and cutlery already set to Ava's frustration and the taller woman couldn't help herself and straightened Charlie's set. Charlie of course waited until her Mom had gone to check on the chicken before she messed it again, changing the places of the knife and fork and turning over the spoon.

"I'll check on him," Sara said to Ava after putting her wine glass down on the giant table.

Ray wasn't in his room but rather in one of the bathrooms. Sara gently knocked on the door and heard something fall in the sink, probably Ray's phone by the sound of it.

"Ray? Is everything alright?" Sara asked.

"Hum… yeah! Everything's fine, everything's totally normal!" He stammered.

"Ray, open up." Something was definitely up. Lying had never been Ray's strong suit, something that Sara was actually grateful for.

"I'm fine, I just need to finish something real quick. I'll be out in a minute!"

Sara took a deep breath and leaned one hand flat against the door.

"Ray, you've got exactly five seconds to open the door before I kick it in. And you'll have to work the whole summer, 'cause you'll be paying for it. One. Two."

The door opened before Sara could finish saying three. Ray retreated further in the bathroom near the shower, his back turned away from his mother. He held one of the small towels they used to dry their hands after washing them. His phone was in the sink and different bottles sat there as well, the kind Sara used to clean cuts and superficial injuries. She also noticed that among the bottles were the ones that she often used on the occasional injuries she received in the line of duty, some really good quality stuff. Although she had nothing against her children using those products –she'd rather have them use those than the shit they could buy at the drugstore- she was certain those products were hidden in a cabinet in the other bathroom, the one that Ava and her used regularly while leaving this one to their children (even if anyone was allowed to use either).

"What's going on, Ray?" She asked gently, closing the distance between them and slowly putting her hand on her son's shoulder. She didn't need to apply much pressure for Ray to turn and face her. If she wasn't used to see injuries and violence, she might have gasped. Ray's entire right eye was purple.

Sara guided him to the toilet for him to sit on and gently touched his face, gauging his reaction from her own experience. She didn't say anything at first, simply looking at the injury and Ray silently watched her, admiring her with closed tight lips. He occasionally twitched and grimaced but Sara's touch was surprisingly gentle.

"We gotta grab some ice from the freezer," she said as she reached into a cupboard to take a towel for the ice. "But before, tell me if you have any other injuries.

Ray hesitated for only a second before he lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal a bleeding cut. Sara took his arm, looked at the cut and then washed it thoroughly. Not a single emotion appeared on her face as she cleaned the wound and Ray let out a few strangled gasps. Once the cut was wrapped in a clean bandage, she raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms on her chest, something that Ray had learned meant that Sara wanted to know what happened.

"That's it. I am not injured anywhere else," Ray deflected. Sara looked him quickly up and down before nodding.

"Before we get that ice, you're going to tell me what the hell happened."

Ray sighed, seeing there was no way he could escape. His Mama was standing between him and the door and there was no way he would squeeze through the small window behind the shower. Besides, Sara would catch him before he attempted anything.

"I got beat up at school."

"I figured as much. Who hit you?"

"It's nothing, there's just this group of guys that always seems to have some kind of problem with me…" Ray started rambling, looking anywhere but at his mother.

Sara gently took his chin in her hand to force him to look at her.

"Ray, it's not nothing. You matter and what you feel matter. Did you like them beating you up?"

"No."

"Okay, so we're gonna deal with it. Have you talked about it to the Principal?"

"No."

Sara kept her voice even and gentle.

"Okay, then tomorrow, I want you to do that. If you don't want to give me their names, give them to the Principal. If you want to talk about it to Ava and me, we'll listen. If you don't want to, that's also fine, but please, don't let that kind of thing remain unsaid. Don't brush it off as something that doesn't matter. We're your family, Ray, you matter to us and we hate seeing you hurt, or injured or bullied. And if some punk ass kids need to be taught some manners and values, then that's fine to."

Ray shuddered.

"I'm kidding, Ray. I'm not going to kick some kids' ass. Besides, as Ava would say: that would be illegal." Ray smiled.

"You want to talk about it?"

When Ray shyly nodded, Sara pulled him to his feet and hugged him. "Let's get Ava and we can talk about it."

When they both emerged into the living room, Ava paled at seeing Ray's black eye. Sara simply raised her hand, her way of telling her that she got this. After putting some ice in the towel, she gave that to Ray while the three of them moved to the living room, everyone else being sent to their rooms until dinner. Sara was sure all the other children were aware of what happened to Ray and she noted to herself to ask them later, but she wanted to give Ray as much privacy as she could.

So while Ray held the ice pack to his face, he repeated to Ava what he had said to Sara. They agreed that Ray should talk to the Principal and after a half-hour of protests, arguments and complaints on Ray's part –him being certain it would only make things worse- he promised he would talk to Principal Gideon before the weekend.

* * *

"And if he doesn't," Sara said as she climbed into bed while Ava was laying out her clothes for the next day like she always did, "We'll talk to Gideon ourselves. Or I'll kick all their asses and that will be the end of it. Nobody messes with our children."

Despite how adorable Ava found Sara's protectiveness, sometimes reminding her of that of a lioness and she often felt like that herself when it came to her children, she didn't agree on everything her wife was saying. "I agree with you babe when it comes to not letting it slide, but I don't think it's a good idea if you start bulling children," Ava answered as she climbed into bed, immediately nuzzling against Sara's side, the other woman happily opening her arms for her wife to settle into.

"I wouldn't be bulling them, just teaching them some manners."

"And if their own parents failed to do that, I'm not sure how you will manage."

Sara let out a frustrated sigh. "I hate when that shit happens. We can protect them against the weather, teach them values and give them everything they need to live their own lives and be responsible adults. Hell, I can even teach them how to fight or hotwire a car if need be!" When she saw Ava frown, she quickly added "Just kidding." Another sigh. "I just wish there was something we could do to protect them from that kind of bullshit."

"I know and I feel the same," Ava said in between kisses on her wife's collarbone. "If all else fails, we can still talk to their parents, see what kind of people they are. Maybe they aren't even aware that their children are bullies."

"Maybe…"

* * *

When Friday came, Ray got home with another black eye and from the way he was holding his left hand, some of his fingers had taken a hit. He seemed particularly sad about it and even more nervous because their final term exams were supposed to take place the next week. Despite the fact that Ray was right handed, he was still really upset about it. As soon as she saw it, Ava took Ray to the hospital to do X-rays and Sara proceeded to outright interrogate every other child from the household.

Only Zari and Mona were in the same grade as Ray (since Mona had actually skipped a year) but neither girl was in the same classes as him. Sara was about to throw in the towel and let her frustration out on the boxing bag they kept in the garage, when Zari mentioned something interesting.

"I only briefly saw something today. There was this girl that came out of Ray's last classroom. You know how Ray insists on making sure everything is back in its place after Chemistry, well she seemed to be sticking around. I didn't hear anything, but I saw her walk out of the classroom with this cold and emotionless expression on her face. She didn't even see me. And after Ray closed the door, he seemed distraught but refused to tell me anything. I think he got beat up by this girl. And that he was lying about the other students. Like, sure, they were mean to him, and occasionally pushed him around, but never when we were there and it never escalated to this. I hope it helps."

"Thanks Z. It does."

Since Zari didn't know the name of that girl, she and Charlie looked her up on Facebook and showed the results to Sara who waited patiently for Ray and Ava to come home from the hospital. Which they did slightly after midnight.

"Nothing broken, just a small sprain," Ava reassured Sara as she took care of Ray's coat. She then gave Sara the X-rays since she knew her wife would want to see for herself.

She was surprised though when Sara put the X-rays down on the table without even looking at them. "Before you go to bed Ray," she called to the boy half-way up the stairs. "Did you get beaten up by Cassandra Savage?"

Ray froze and Ava's gaze went from her wife, to her son, to her wife again. Sighing, Ray got down and they all sat around some tea in the kitchen.

"She started talking to me a couple of months ago, right after our first major exams. She asked me to tutor her and I did. She was really nice, really intelligent as well and there was nothing I could teach her actually. But she kept saying she needed to be better, for her father. But after a while, I just couldn't teach her anything more, she was as good as me!"

He took a sip of his lemon tea before continuing. "One day, a few weeks ago, she looked really tired and broken almost. Like she had that haunted expression on her face as if she buried her entire family over the weekend. She snapped at me when I asked and told me that if I wanted to keep all my fingers, I'd better not be better than her during the next exams. That she needed to be the best in class."

Ray sighed. "I didn't think much about it at first and studied per usual. My grades were slightly better than hers and she shoved me into the locker. The second time it happened, I got my black eye. And the third was today."

Ava ran soothing circles on his back and thanked him for telling them that, as well as reassuring him that it was okay to ask for help, that he shouldn't be ashamed a girl had hit him. She pointed at Sara. "Look at how badass your Mama is. She kicks men's ass all the time at work." That made Ray smile.

"Alright, you go to bed. Did you tell the Principal?"

Ray shook his head, ashamed.

"It's okay, buddy. We'll figure it out. Since your exams only take place from Wednesday to Friday, we'll go talk to Principal Gideon on Monday morning. I don't have to work that day, I can drive you," Sara offered and Ray nodded. "And I'll make damn sure that the Principal gives me the name and address of that girl's parents. I'll handle the adult, you keep on working hard. There's no way I'm going to let a punk ass kid ruin my son's efforts in school."

Ava smiled proudly at that.

* * *

Principal Gideon seemed to understand the situation and gave Sara Mr Savage's details while offering to organize a meeting. Gideon informed her that sadly, Mrs Savage had passed away which was why Mr Savage would meet her alone. As for Ava, she really couldn't get out of work that day because her boss had suddenly decided he actually wanted to throw a Western themed party on New Year's Eve. Since he wanted the whole deal, Ava had to wrestle at the same time contracts for the location –a small Western town built in a park that they always chose- and how to find horses in the middle of December.

Sara agreed and Gideon called Cassandra's father. They met a couple of hours after lunch in the Principal's office. Gideon personally went to fetch both teens from their respective classes and all of them sat in her office.

"This is outrageous!" Vandal Savage yelled. "The boy's lying! My sweet Cassandra would never do such a thing!"

"Oh yeah? And how do you explain those injuries?" Sara asked, her arms crossed on her chest while she stood next to Ray who tried to disappear in his chair, looking anywhere but at either adult.

"He fell and blames my daughter to get her in trouble!"

Gideon sat behind her desk without saying a word while Cassandra sat on a chair facing Ray, her back uncomfortably straight and her hands in her lap. Her face was neutral, calculated almost and Sara wanted to shake her.

"Oh yeah and he gave himself a black eye falling on a slab of concrete? Clearly you have no idea how injuries happen!" Sara tried her best not to yell, but she couldn't help her voice from rising. She was now facing Savage despite her short height and the way he looked down on her.

"Maybe someone else hit him, other male students. Do you seriously believe my daughter is capable of inflicting such damage? She's a polite and respectful young lady!"

Sara turned to Gideon. "This is going nowhere."

"Until you have proof, I will hear nothing from you!" Savage yelled and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. It happened in a split second, but Sara saw Cassandra wince. Savage looked at the clock. "Her last class should be over in ten minutes, I'm taking her home. I will not have her be blamed for something she didn't do." He turned to his daughter. "Go grab your things, I'll wait outside."

Cassandra nodded, her face still emotionless, and left the room with Ray who also went to grab his things when Sara asked him to. Sara thanked Gideon, asked her to keep an eye on the Savage girl and followed Mr Savage outside. Funny enough, their cars were parked right next to each other.

Savage glared at her before smirking when he saw the older model of her car while he leaned on his Tesla and checked his phone. Sara crossed the distance between them in a few casual strides, her hands stuffed in her front jean pockets.

"If you're here to continue this discussion, don't bother," Savage said, glancing up from his phone. "I want you and your kid to stay away from Cassandra. If not, I'll call the police. You'd be surprised by the kind of people I know."

Sara only raised her eyebrows in amused surprise. "Please do call them so I don't have to. It's been a long time since I talked with the chief of police, it'll be nice to catch up." Before Savage could even put his phone down, Sara leaned on his Tesla, pressing her back to it without even looking at the man.

"If your son wasn't such an overachiever maybe he wouldn't get in such trouble."

Sara detached herself from the car and placed herself right in front of Savage.

"Maybe if you didn't abuse your daughter, she wouldn't feel like she needs to abuse others."

Sara meant sure she was looking Savage in the eye when she said that. She didn't even hear the bell ring, didn't see the first students running out of the school. Her focus was entirely set on Savage's angry glare and those uncaring and cold eyes. She knew there was more to the story, more to Cassandra's behavior than meets the eye. When the girl had winced in the Principal's office, Sara just knew. She had seen the same wince countless times when she was a cop. Hell she even saw it on her children's faces before their adoption and sometimes even weeks after.

"Your son should really start to man up if he wants to be somebody in life," was the last thing Savage said before Sara got into her own car and waited for Ray. Savage only waited for Cassandra to close the door behind her before he drove away.

"You okay?" Ray asked, maneuvering himself carefully as not to injure his hand further.

"Yeah, just… preoccupied." She thought for a moment before turning to Ray. "When we get home, I'll show you the basics of self-defense. I want to teach you how to defend yourself but you've got exams to study for. We'll really get into it when your hand is healed. Maybe I should teach it to everyone, actually…"

Ray swallowed hard but nodded.

* * *

When the finals came on Wednesday, Ray was relieved. He never doubted his abilities and his intelligence, so he had nothing to worry about. His mothers told him to go through the exams as usual and not to worry about Cassandra kicking his ass or her father threatening him. Sara had contacted her friends at the SCPD but nothing came up about Savage, he was unfortunately clean.

Sara had also mentioned to Ray that Cassandra didn't seem like the type of person to hurt others willingly. She shared her theory with her son, who thought about it. And, as there were five minutes before they could enter the classroom and Cassandra was always early, Ray approached her on that Wednesday morning.

"Hey, I just wanted to wish you good luck!" he said cheerfully. His face was still heavily bruised and Cassandra's shoulders hunched a little when she noticed that they would take a long time to fade. But she didn't let it show otherwise.

"Why do you talk to me?"

Ray stood silent for a moment and seemed to mutter to himself before he looked at her again. "I've never been abused by a parent, but I know what it feels like to be bullied. You shouldn't let him treat you like that."

"What are you talking about? You know nothing about me!"

"You're right, I don't," Ray said, raising his hands in defense. "What I do know is that you're one of the most brilliant people I know. You don't have to hurt others in order to succeed. You have all you need to do that on your own."

Cassandra looked away.

"But I'm not as good as you. And I need to be the best."

"Is that what your father wants?"

The look in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

"You know, I wasn't always the best. I studied a lot and I practiced. And I surround myself with people who believe in me and accept me for who I am, not with people who want me to be something I'm not."

He smiled at her before spotting Nora a few feet away.

"Anyway, I'm sure you could be better than me if you really tried to do it on your own. Good luck for the exams!" he said before he dashed towards Nora just as the teacher was opening the room.

Cassandra watched him leave, still wondering what just happened. She tried to ignore Ray during the next couple of days, despite the thumbs up he gave her at lunch and the shy smiles he threw at her whenever they were the first ones to leave the room after an exam. It's definitely not because of his words that she stopped harassing him and studied even harder. And it's certainly not because of his advice that she finally gathered the courage to stand to her father one day, whatever might come out of it.


End file.
